Green and Scales then combined for eight points during an 11-2 Samara surge to signal the end for Lappeenranta.

Virtanen's three-pointer trimmed the margin back to five points at 82-77, but Green and Scales again combined for eight points in a 10-0 CSK-VVS run to build a 92-77 advantage with two minutes left.

COACH QUOTES

Quotes CSK-VVS-Samara vs. Lappeenranta

Mika Turunen, coach Lappeenranta:

"We have played very well, but didn’t handle well two players of Samara team, Alex Scales and Yaniv Green the ones who ultimately punished us. So we will make the neccassary adjustments and try to win the second leg in our court."

Valery Tikhonenko, coach CSK-VVS-Samara:

"I agree that we made our fans nervous, by starting the game badly. Fortunatelly, all is well that ends well. We couldn’t play on the top of our abilities, but we still won – and this is the main thing! We knew that in Lappeenranta every player is dangerous, that all the basketball players of this club are shooters. But I think that the guest team has played even better today than anyone could think. The second game on their court will be even more difficult, I guess."